Hi everybody.

Just wanted to get your opinions on solar flare events.

 

I check this site from time to time: www.spaceweatherlive.com/de.html
So far, the press always panicked but so far everything has gone well here. Let's hope for the best and expect the worst!

Spoiler: Don't panic: Hard disks are safe from the solar storm

Don't panic: Hard disks are safe from the solar storm

Solar storms are nothing unusual. The activity of the central star fluctuates between quiet and active phases in a rhythm of about eleven years. Since 2010, it has been increasing again. Severe solar storms can have serious consequences because they disrupt satellites, electrical systems, navigation systems such as GPS and radio communications. In 2003, such a storm caused, among other things, a power outage in Sweden lasting several hours, a failure of European airborne radar and the loss of a research satellite. However, such extreme events are also extremely rare.

What does this mean for the hard disk of a personal computer? Data recovery services warn - presumably not entirely altruistically: If the power fails while the system is running, the read and write head of the disk could be damaged. The loss of data is likely in this case.

Urs Mansmann, editor at the trade magazine "ct", however, thinks this is nonsense. Counterargument number one: "The probability of the power failing in an event of this strength tends toward zero." For that to happen, the storms would have to be much stronger. Counterargument number two: "A power outage is always bad for data integrity, but most of the time it doesn't damage the hard drive." Many users are familiar with this: if they accidentally unplug their PC and the screen suddenly goes black, not all of their data is immediately gone.

The radiation itself will not harm any computer. "The ground is protected by the Earth's magnetic field," says Rolf Schlichenmaier of the Kiepenheuer Institute for Solar Physics in Freiburg. The only visible result of solar storms, he says, are harmless auroras.

Regardless of the solar storm, however, it pays to back up your data regularly. "This is a basic rule for everyone who works with computers," says expert Mansmann. A hard drive can always crash and break - without any radiation from outer space.

 

Last edited: May 10, 2022

I'm just hoping they stop the contrails.

 

Just make sure the Faraday cage is wefproof.

 

I have backup of several team Flare "events"

 

'Knowing' is a great movie to watch in this context, although it's pretty dark and violent. Also nice use of classical music in that one.

 

Nice recommendation. Note taken.